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Anyone consider the possibility that Mark Gatiss' historical depiction of the early history of Doctor Who might be something of a canard wherein the characterizations of Hartnel, Troughton, (and perhaps others) along with their on-screen companions, are actually being recreated, not just for Gatiss' very real docudrama, but also for the actual 59th anniversary episode of Doctor Who as well?

The idea being that in addition to shooting scenes for Gatiss' film, mightn't they also be taking advantage of the situation by shooting additional footage of these period look-alikes and recreated period settings specifically for inclusion in a multi-doctor anniversary episode?

Seems like this would be a no-brainer, as you could spread the cost of recreating these older characters, sets, and locales over two productions, at a substantial savings to both.

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If Ronald Reagan hadn't cut Mental Health funding to the bone, most of today's GOP & Tea Party candidates wouldn't be walking around loose.

Anyone consider the possibility that Mark Gatiss' historical depiction of the early history of Doctor Who might be something of a canard wherein the characterizations of Hartnel, Troughton, (and perhaps others) along with their on-screen companions, are actually being recreated, not just for Gatiss' very real docudrama, but also for the actual 59th anniversary episode of Doctor Who as well?

The idea being that in addition to shooting scenes for Gatiss' film, mightn't they also be taking advantage of the situation by shooting additional footage of these period look-alikes and recreated period settings specifically for inclusion in a multi-doctor anniversary episode?

Seems like this would be a no-brainer, as you could spread the cost of recreating these older characters, sets, and locales over two productions, at a substantial savings to both.

I would've considered the posibility if the Anniversary Special was longer, but, an hour just isn't enough screentime to add in a bunch of Doctors that are still living, let alone the ones who have already passed on

However, and I thought this is what you were going to suggest, I could see the large amount of press towards Adventures in Space & Time as means to keep attention away from work being done the 50th anniversary special to provide a greater surprise when its released.

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"Eccleston was a tiger and Tennant was, well, Tigger. Smith [is] an uncoordinated housecat who pretends that he meant to do that after falling off a piece of furniture." - Lynne M. Thomas

Anyone consider the possibility that Mark Gatiss' historical depiction of the early history of Doctor Who might be something of a canard wherein the characterizations of Hartnel, Troughton, (and perhaps others) along with their on-screen companions, are actually being recreated, not just for Gatiss' very real docudrama, but also for the actual 59th anniversary episode of Doctor Who as well?

The idea being that in addition to shooting scenes for Gatiss' film, mightn't they also be taking advantage of the situation by shooting additional footage of these period look-alikes and recreated period settings specifically for inclusion in a multi-doctor anniversary episode?

Seems like this would be a no-brainer, as you could spread the cost of recreating these older characters, sets, and locales over two productions, at a substantial savings to both.

I would've considered the posibility if the Anniversary Special was longer, but, an hour just isn't enough screentime to add in a bunch of Doctors that are still living, let alone the ones who have already passed on

Agree, unfortunately it seems like that won't be the case. I suppose the old style console might appear because we know they're all stored in the TARDIS. But, the 60 minute length is a big limitation.

Anyone consider the possibility that Mark Gatiss' historical depiction of the early history of Doctor Who might be something of a canard wherein the characterizations of Hartnel, Troughton, (and perhaps others) along with their on-screen companions, are actually being recreated, not just for Gatiss' very real docudrama, but also for the actual 59th anniversary episode of Doctor Who as well?

The idea being that in addition to shooting scenes for Gatiss' film, mightn't they also be taking advantage of the situation by shooting additional footage of these period look-alikes and recreated period settings specifically for inclusion in a multi-doctor anniversary episode?

Seems like this would be a no-brainer, as you could spread the cost of recreating these older characters, sets, and locales over two productions, at a substantial savings to both.

I assumed this was the case. I'm quite surprised to discover everyone else didn't...

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Soon oh soon the light, Pass within and soothe this endless night, And wait here for you, Our reason to be here...

I'm pretty sure that the anniversary special being limited to a single 60 minute episode is probably the biggest bit of misdirection of all. Seriously, where exactly did this revelation of a single 60 minute anniversary come from? I mean other than this notice from the UK Toy Fair?

The wording of this notice in no way implies that the series is limited to what is listed on the sign, merely that the series includes these things. My chicken salad recipe includes finely chopped apple and grated cheese, but that doesn't mean it's limited to those two ingredients alone. While it includes apple and cheese. it also obviously contains a lot of other stuff (most notably, chicken). In this case "Includes" pretty much implies "in addition to the usual". Perhaps that's how it's being used in the above notice?

Seriously... to the best of my knowledge this notion of but a single 60 minute episode to commemorate Who's 50th anniversary has not been confirmed by anyone in a position of authority. If you know otherwise, I'd really appreciate like a link, as I've been looking for official confirmation of this since the announcement at the Toy Fair in mid January, and haven't found anything but third-party fan sources parroting it as though it were a confirmed fact, but base this conclusion solely on this above posting from the Toy Fair, and nothing more.

Moreover, I just did a quick search of the news items on the official Dr Who site, and can find absolutely nothing that confirms this "fact", nor which even hints at it.

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If Ronald Reagan hadn't cut Mental Health funding to the bone, most of today's GOP & Tea Party candidates wouldn't be walking around loose.

I'm pretty sure that the anniversary special being limited to a single 60 minute episode is probably the biggest bit of misdirection of all. Seriously, where exactly did this revelation of a single 60 minute anniversary come from? I mean other than this notice from the UK Toy Fair?

The wording of this notice in no way implies that the series is limited to what is listed on the sign, merely that the series includes these things. My chicken salad recipe includes finely chopped apple and grated cheese, but that doesn't mean it's limited to those two ingredients alone. While it includes apple and cheese. it also obviously contains a lot of other stuff (most notably, chicken). In this case "Includes" pretty much implies "in addition to the usual". Perhaps that's how it's being used in the above notice?

Seriously... to the best of my knowledge this notion of but a single 60 minute episode to commemorate Who's 50th anniversary has not been confirmed by anyone in a position of authority. If you know otherwise, I'd really appreciate like a link, as I've been looking for official confirmation of this since the announcement at the Toy Fair in mid January, and haven't found anything but third-party fan sources parroting it as though it were a confirmed fact, but base this conclusion solely on this above posting from the Toy Fair, and nothing more.

Moreover, I just did a quick search of the news items on the official Dr Who site, and can find absolutely nothing that confirms this "fact", nor which even hints at it.

I think you're looking for a conspiracy where none exists. It's true, that list is not a complete representation of Doctor Who in 2013, since they left the Christmas special off. But otherwise, that's all we're getting. It's a matter of practicality, Moffat is still working on the script which films in April. Add that he has to take care of Sherlock and then the Christmas special, there just isn't any time to do anything more than.

But, I agree, it could be kind of cool if they could get David Bradley to show up as the First Doctor. 60 minutes allows one former Doctor to show up at least.

The Toy Fair poster was a piece of insider information for merchandisers who needed to know when the show is going to be on so they can plan their marketing accordingly. It's not a place for clever-clogs misdirection, unlike the various publicity interviews where Steven Moffat implied more would be happening in 2013. And at this point, all they have time to film in April before Smith goes off to do his movie in May is one 60-minute special. After Smith comes back, it will be extremely difficult to do anything more for 2013 other than a Christmas special without running afoul of post-production deadlines.

Also, if the TV show were planning a full-on multi-Doctor story with classic Doctors in meaningful roles, Big Finish wouldn't have been allowed to do The Light at the End.

With the new retro opening, new retro console room introduced in last year's christmas special, I think their plan is to use the remainder of series 7 to setup the 50th anniversary special. So I fully expect them to liberally sneak in bits and pieces of Who history into the remaining episodes.

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"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." -- Albert Einstein

That's pretty much what I was thinking as well, though sort of the other way around.

The anniversary itself isn't until November, and I think the anniversary episode marks the beginning of the real anniversary celebration, rather than it's climax. I don't think we'll build up to it, per se, but that the Nov 23rd ep will mark the start off a year long anniversary story arc/celebration, that'll include the Christmas special and virtually all of series 8, and reach it's climactic conclusion nearly a year later on the fields of Trenzalore.

I'm expecting a whole anniversary series that starts on Nov 23, 2013, rather than a regular series that ends on that date with a standard 60 minute episode wherein the only thing about it that qualifies it as a "special" is that it's being shot in 3D.

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If Ronald Reagan hadn't cut Mental Health funding to the bone, most of today's GOP & Tea Party candidates wouldn't be walking around loose.

With the new retro opening, new retro console room introduced in last year's christmas special, I think their plan is to use the remainder of series 7 to setup the 50th anniversary special. So I fully expect them to liberally sneak in bits and pieces of Who history into the remaining episodes.

Well given we know that at least two classic monsters will be showing up I think that’s highly likely (actually make that three given it looks like either Strax or A.N Other Sontaran is showing up as well).

I still don’t get why people are that upset about a 60 minute special. I think they can fit more into that time than you think. Look at PotD and WoM, both were an hour long and, quite frankly, both had a lot of padding. The Five Doctors was 90 minutes yes, but how much of that was stock footage of Tom and Lalla, and how much was Doctor’s chatting with their companions? Factor in you had five Doctors (sort of) eight companions (near as I recall and including Jamie, Zoe and Romana) The Master, plus three members of the High Council plus a Dalek, plus the Raston warrior, plus Cybermen, plus a hint of UNIT, plus Bessie…

Talk about the kitchen sink

Strip back the cast so that you just have a handful of Doctors and Clara (always assuming she’s still around) and make the threat a single enemy (either the Master or the Daleks would be the obvious ones, especially given we’ll see Cybermen in series 7b) and get into the action as soon as possible and I don’t see any reason why you can’t have a decent story in 60 minutes. We were never going to get an 11 Doctor/25 companions extravaganza, no matter what people thought (and let’s be honest even with 90 minutes it’d be tricky)

Look at Trek, they had two series running when they hit the 30th anniversary and we still just got a single regular episode of both DS9 and Voyager (and only one of them was any good) and when Corrie hit 50 ITV had to rely on the BBC to celebrate the dame thing!

Plus there’ll be a load of other stuff that, from some fans’ perspective may not count, but from the Beeb’s probably does. There will be a Who star on Strictly this year, I’d stake money on that, and given the show will still be airing by the time the actual anniversary arrives, I wouldn’t put it past them to do some kind of Who themed show (it’s unlikely I grant you but you never know). There’ll be various Doctors/companions on every panel/interview show going as well I reckon and I can still see some classic Who being show on BBC3/4, so I reckon by the time November rolls around Dr Who may well ‘take over our tellys’ even if not quite in the way a lot of people wanted.

Well given we know that at least two classic monsters will be showing up I think that’s highly likely (actually make that three given it looks like either Strax or A.N Other Sontaran is showing up as well).

Strax definitely is, since Vastra & Jenny are back, dunno if the shooting Sontaran in the trailer is him (perhaps in a flashback) or not

Starkers wrote:

Plus there’ll be a load of other stuff that, from some fans’ perspective may not count, but from the Beeb’s probably does. There will be a Who star on Strictly this year, I’d stake money on that,

And I'd be more than willing to bet it'll be Davison. At the very least he'll be their first choice, I reckon.

I'm pretty sure that the anniversary special being limited to a single 60 minute episode is probably the biggest bit of misdirection of all. Seriously, where exactly did this revelation of a single 60 minute anniversary come from? I mean other than this notice from the UK Toy Fair?

Seriously... to the best of my knowledge this notion of but a single 60 minute episode to commemorate Who's 50th anniversary has not been confirmed by anyone in a position of authority.

I'm a bit confused as to your point. The Anniversary episode of Doctor Who is 60 minutes long, but there are other programmes (like AAIS&T) that are part of the Anniversary celebrations. I don't see anyone disputing that.

And just so you know, since the contact details have been cut off on that photo, the information at Toy Fair came from the Brand Manager at BBC Worldwide, who would in turn have got it from the Doctor Who Production Office in Cardiff. So it's as accurate as it can be really.